The Shanghai World Expo 2010 with the theme of "Better City, Better Life" was grandly opened on May 1. This is the second major event that China has followed since the Beijing Olympics. During the period, security applications of various products, systems, and solutions emerged in an endless stream. As one of the international brands for the construction of the card system for the Shanghai World Expo venues and access control system, the Han Army has been working for many years in the field of access control systems and has strong technical strength and product advantages. By coincidence, we were fortunate enough to meet Mr. Xu Zhong, an engineer from Han Jun intelligence, and had an exclusive interview with him.
Reporter: According to a reporter from the World Expo Report Group, nearly 100 venues at the Shanghai World Expo have adopted the Han Army's access control system. Please tell us first how the Han military access control system operates in the Expo pavilion.
Xu Zhong: Our Han Jun’s access control products are mainly distributed in areas A, B, and C. There are also several Puxi venues and self-built venues, as well as some European pavilions, such as Switzerland, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. There are also three permanent venues in the four museums on one axis: the Expo Center, the Expo Axis and the Expo Cultural Center, and the administrative center of the Expo Bureau. At present, all Han military access control systems in the Expo site are operating normally.
Reporter: Han Jun has been working for many years in the field of access control systems and has strong technical strength and product advantages. As one of the international brands for the construction of the card system for the Shanghai World Expo venues, the application process of the Expo pavilion will certainly be linked to other manufacturers' monitoring systems and alarm systems. Will there be compatibility or other issues in the networking process? How did you solve it?
Xu Zhong: In the process of construction, there were indeed many problems with the compatibility of other systems of the Expo, on-site environmental issues, and site management issues. For example,
1: At the initial stage of the construction of the Expo Center, the Security Bureau based its attention on the safety of the entire park and required all the access control systems of the park to be managed in a unified manner. For this purpose, a set of World Expo Security Access Control System and Interface Specifications was developed. This company received the specification. After that, it organized the company's backbone forces to research and develop the first access control software that complied with this standard among all World Expo access control manufacturers;
2: During the planning and construction of the World Expo, Mifare cards have been reported internationally to be cracked by foreign research institutes, which poses severe challenges to the security of access control systems at the Expo Park. The security experts and professors recruited through the park have repeatedly consulted and studied. The final decision was made to adopt the domestically-emerging and internationally advanced and safe CPU as the main smart card of the Expo site. At the same time, considering the domestic status, it must also be compatible with two other common smart cards such as IC cards. Therefore, it is required that all readers of the access control must use the latest read-head kernel module that Fudan Microelectronics has just developed. This is a severe test for all access control manufacturers. Our company has consolidated the strength of multiple R&D teams at home and abroad. Public relations, finally developed the first time in line with the Expo standard access control reading head.
During the construction period of the Expo, our company encountered the same problems as other Expo suppliers. However, after close cooperation and unremitting efforts of our company's leaders at all levels, R&D personnel, and on-site engineers, they are all successfully resolved. If we do not experience storms and see the rainbow, it can be said that it was the sweat of all employees of the company in the previous period that brought about 100 stable installations of the Han military access control system venues in the Expo site today.
Reporter: Which kind of smart card technology is used by the Han Army in the access control system used in the Expo pavilions? In the past, when Mifare cards were cracked, they made a lot of noises. What are the unique techniques of the Han Army in anti-hacking technology?
Xu Zhong: In the Expo site, we mainly use the CPU technology that meets the Expo security requirements. When the Mifare card was just cracked, all leaders of our company paid close attention to the development of the situation and fully assessed the impact of the Mifare card being cracked on the installation of various systems of our company. At the same time, organize software and hardware engineers to develop a set of encryption solutions to ensure the safety and stable operation of our company's various systems.
Reporter: As far as we know, most of the access control projects that currently involve more than a thousand doors use the joint mode of RS485+TCP/IP. Some high-demand or even all of them are TCP/IP networking. The access control of the Han Army on this Expo is very broad. What kind of networking methods are you using during the construction process? How does one define which method to use?
Xu Zhong: At the Expo site, we have both access control systems using pure TCP/IP networking and systems using hybrid networking. The main consideration in adopting that scheme is to reduce costs as much as possible while ensuring safety and stability. Therefore, pure TCP/IP networking is used in large venues, such as the Expo Axis, and some smaller venues use a joint networking approach.
Reporter: If, in the period of the World Expo, the access control system had such conditions as man-made destruction, what kind of emergency measures did you have?
Xu Zhong: During the holding period, our company has formulated various emergency plans in strict accordance with the requirements of the Expo Security Bureau. And send experienced engineers to the site to do 24 hours on duty.
Reporter: Low-carbon is one of the major slogans of this World Expo. The Han military has covered 100 Expo pavilions. Do you wonder whether there are any unique technologies for energy conservation?
Xu Zhong: With the continuous improvement of people's living standards, energy issues have become an unavoidable topic for humans. My company has also done a lot of research on this issue, and developed a variety of energy-saving readers, energy-saving controllers, smart building energy-saving programs.